I felt very impatient, waiting to hear the expected word of command from my father, to fire. Several times I peeped through the port. At length I saw a body of men emerge from the wood. They halted for a minute or more,—being apparently the advanced guard,—till they were joined by others. My father must have seen them, but he did not give the order to fire. At length I saw the whole mass advancing, and at the same moment my father’s voice sounded loud and clear through the building,—“Be prepared, my men! The enemy are coming; but reserve your fire till you receive my orders, and then take good aim, and don’t throw a shot away.”
My uncle now came over to where I was posted. “The enemy appear to intend attacking us only on this side,” he observed; “I hope they may, for we shall then be able to sweep them down as they ascend the open slope. They have no scaling-ladders with them, I am thankful to see, or our task would be more difficult. I will lend you a hand, Barry, in fighting your gun, till I am called back to my own. We must take care that while we are reloading none of them succeed in creeping through the port; they are daring fellows, and may make the attempt.”
We had kept the port closed, a man being stationed to lift up the trap the moment the order to fire should be given. For a minute or more perfect silence reigned through the house; every one stood eagerly waiting for my father’s orders. At length his voice was heard. “Fire!” he shouted; and at the same moment, as if his command had been addressed to the enemy, they began blazing away, the shot rattling like hail against the walls.
Our port being unmasked, we ran out the gun, depressing it so as to sweep the hill-side, and fired. Loud shrieks and cries arose as the iron shower went crashing among them; but as we immediately closed the port, we could not see how many fell. Still they advanced; and as they did so our garrison kept firing away, with right good will, from every loophole in the house. We meantime reloaded our gun and again ran it out; but the enemy scarcely waited for its discharge. Its effects were even more deadly than at first, for their front ranks were almost up to the walls. Before the smoke had cleared away some of them dashed forward towards the port, by command of their leader, for we heard his voice giving the order; but we had our pikes raised to receive them, and two, if not more, were killed as they attempted to force their way in. The others for a moment holding back, enabled us to close the port, at the same time that some of the men on the roof hurled down on their heads a shower of stones, which must have killed or disabled many more.
Aqualonga—for he himself was at the head of the party—now found that he had made a mistake in attacking the house on the north side, and dashing forward, he and his followers took shelter among the out-buildings which surrounded the courtyard. He here rallied his men, and for a short time the firing ceased; for though the out-buildings afforded our assailants protection, they were unable to fire at us from them.
But the fighting was soon renewed. Some brands thrown from the top of the walls on to the roof of the out-buildings set them on fire, and quickly drove out the banditti, who now rushed into the courtyard and attempted to burst open the back doors of the house,—not being aware how strongly they were barricaded. We had on this side also kept a port ready for firing through; and my gun being hauled round, we sent another dose of langrage among them. Numbers fell, as did many more from the shot fired at them from the loopholes and the stones hurled down on their heads. Still, with desperate bravery, Aqualonga persevered, and the bullets came rattling against the walls, several making their way through the loopholes, and some penetrating the shutters, which were of less thickness than those below.
At length the enemy brought up a huge log of timber supported on ropes, and while the rest of the band fired rapidly at us, they attempted to break open one of the lower doors. Should this plan succeed, they might, in spite of all the resistance we could offer, force their way in.
“They are not aware, possibly, that we have another gun in reserve,” observed Uncle Denis. “We’ll bring it round; and if they do force the door, they’ll meet with a reception they little expect.”
Had there been any projections to the house, from which we could have opened a flank fire on our assailants, we should have had a great advantage; but, as it was, we could only fire directly upon them.
The battle now raged with greater fury than before: the banditti seemed determined to get in, while we fought for our existence, for we knew well that every one of us would be put to death should they succeed. Again and again they attacked the port—or, more properly speaking, the embrasure—which opened on the courtyard; and at last, finding that they could not force their way in, a number of them brought some heavy masses of timber, with which they completely blocked it up, so that the gun could not be fired through it.